Lubricating oil used in internal combustion engines rapidly becomes contaminated with dust, dirt, and solid particles of all kinds, and also becomes contaminated with water, petroleum fuels, etc. during its normal use. If the lubricating oil is to serve its intended purpose it must be continuously filtered and purified to remove these contaminants. Typical oil filters which are known to being use to remove such contaminants are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,616,885 and 4,006,084 issued to G. R. Priest. These devices involve a housing with an oil inlet in the bottom of the housing leading into a large filter chamber, normally filled with fibrous material to remove solid contaminants in the oil. The oil passes upwardly through the filter chamber and then through a felt pad into an upper chamber where the oil is subjected to heat to cause vaporization of liquid contaminants, and the vapors are vented off into the atmosphere. The oil passing through the felt pad is conducted to the interior of a hollow conical element having its outside surface in the shape of a series of tiers over which the oil is cascaded downwardly. The oil passes from the inside to the outside of the conical element through a plurality of small channels leading to the uppermost tier of the conical surface. As the oil cascades downwardly over the series of tiers it is heated, causing the liquid contaminants to vaporize and be vented off into the atmosphere while the purified oil collects at the bottom of the cascade and is drained away through the outlet.
While these prior art devices do an admirable job of purifying the oil when the reconditioning device is maintained in a relatively stable upright position, they do not function well when the device is tilted at a severe angle from the upright position. Oil reconditioning devices of this type are employed on equipment such as tractors, bulldozers, earthmoving equipment, mining equipment, etc which are frequently operated at steep angles. When such a condition occurs, the oil in the reconditioning device may be lost out the vent or short-circuited and drained away through the outlet line without being subjected to sufficient vaporization processing or of the filtering to be completely reconditioned. Furthermore, when these conditions occur there may be an engine "blow by" wherein the oil pressure is lost, the moving parts of the engine are not adequately lubricated, and the engine may be seriously damaged.
It is an object of this invention to provide an oil reconditioning device which can function in almost any degree of tilt without sacrificing any of its purification capabilities, and without permitting a loss in oil pressure. Other objects will appear from a more detailed description of this invention which follows.